Natural Resources

Exploration is hard. After all, it involves being in a place where few or none have been before, whether it is the top of a mountain, the bottom of the ocean, or the surface of another world. Historically, part of the reason that exploration is so difficult is because most explorers have had to be self-sustaining; that is, most explorers have had to bring their own provisions, whether it was food or water or heat or tools, and the portage and maintenance of these provisions naturally limits the scope and pace of exploratory activities. The most successful explorers have been those who learned to use the natural resources that they encountered along the way to enable new and unanticipated discoveries and to increase their chances of successfully reaching their goals. This "living off the land" philosophy has been crucial for the exploration of Earth, and it...